CBR Bingo Center Square: Star
This graphic novel collects the series the Wicked and the Divine, the first 5 comic books. The idea of the series is that every ninety years 12 gods incarnate as human beings. They become part of The Pantheon, and in two years they are dead. In this incarnation, the gods are rock stars. The story centers on Laura, a super fan of the Pantheon and her relationship with the person who claims to be the reincarnation of Lucifer. She goes by Luci, and she seems to have the ability to create fire with the click of her fingers.
We also meet Amaterasu when Laura attends one of her shows and experiences extreme euphoria and passes out. There is a lot of cultural appropriation going on by this white young woman claiming to be a Shinto goddess, and she is met with skepticism by the journalist Cassandra, who doesn’t believe that the reincarnation has occurred. Amaterasu seems to be poking fun of the white rock stars who have appropriated Japanese culture in their music.
When the journalist Cassandra, Amaterasu, and the goddess Sakhmet are attacked during the interview, Luci kills the two gunmen. She goes to prison, and at her trial she taunts the judge by clicking her fingers. And the judge’s head explodes.
Through the first collected books we meet the other gods: Baal (lightning guy, smooth talker, de-facto leader of the group) the Morrigan (gothy underground goddess who has three distinct personalities) Baphomet (the Morrigan’s boyfriend). They seem to have a minder named Ananke. She is very old and does not appear to be trustworthy.
I read through this pretty quickly and then immediately checked out books two three and four. It’s a little bit of magical realism, a lot of sex with all kinds of people, and a heck of a lot of fun. I’m really glad the series is done so I can find out what happens! I checked it out of the library. Each chapter has a cover page with each of the 12 represented by a symbol in a circular pattern. When the characters die (live fast die young seems to be the motto here) their symbol turns into a skull in the next chapter.
